A Chance Meeting
by thingsjusthappen
Summary: In which Emma takes Henry to a hearing clinic.


_A/N: So this one-shot came out of nowhere. I apologize if anything here misrepresents Deaf people or Deaf Culture. I, myself am not Deaf and am just going off of my knowledge from having ASL courses and a Deaf Culture course. Please let me know if anything is this short one-shot is misrepresented or offensive and I will correct it immediately. Well, enjoy._

* * *

"Do you think it's possible to fall in love at first sight?" Emma questioned her roommate, Lacey, who was sitting on the couch eating vegemite on toast. Lacey paused the show she was currently watching and looked to her blonde friend.

"Well I know I have a few times." Lacey winked taking a bite of her toast as Emma chuckled.

"I'm serious Lace," Emma sighed leaning against the entrance of the kitchen looking at Lacey whose expression turned serious.

"Well, I mean, I guess. I believe in love and the possibility of falling in love. I don't think I've ever been in love. I've loved people, I love you and the little ankle biter, but yeah, I've lost my point mate, but I guess it's possible." Lacey shrugged as Emma sighed sliding down to the floor causing Lacey to laugh. "Who is it?"

"I see her on campus when Henry and I go to the hearing clinic."

"Professor or student?"

"I don't know, I haven't even met the woman, but every time I see her I have this feeling—"

"When was the last time you had sex? It may just be sexual frustration acting up." Emma laughed at her roommate's openness.

"I honestly can't remember, I think maybe that time you babysat for me—"

"Emma! That was two years ago!" Lacey exclaimed her mouth full from taking the last bite of her toast. Emma shrugged as she heard her five year old yell out for her from the bathroom. "When you take the ankle biter to the clinic today and you see her go say hi, find out who this woman is that has you taking about love at first sight."

"Well Henry does have his hearing testing today, so it's possible." Emma stood up as Lacey smiled. "You know he is picking up sign language really quickly, he's has quite the vocabulary."

"Why not just switch to full time sign then?"

"There's a possibility that he could keep his hearing, so I want him to have all opportunities possible, so for now I'll keep with both sign and teaching him to speak better." Lacey nodded picking up the remote and resuming her marathon of _Friends_ as Emma went to get her son out of the bath and ready for his appointment.

zZz

"Emma, we are going to be doing some more extensive testing to see if he's lost anymore of his hearing." Emma nodded looking at Dr. Victor Whale, he worked at the local hospital but he also volunteered his time at the university's hearing clinic.

"I'll be back in a half hour?" Dr. Whale nodded as Henry signed to Emma.

 _'Can you bring me a snack?'_ Emma nodded before kissing his forehead and leaving the doctor to do his testing. Standing in the long line at Starbucks to get Henry a snack she chuckled inwardly, by the time she got her drink and his snack thirty minutes would have passed easily. Looking down at her phone Emma chuckled at the text Lacey had sent her.

 _When you talk to your True Love, try not to fumble over your words._ Emma rolled her eyes as another text came in. _Oh, oh, just sign to her! Wait, if she doesn't sign that's stupid! Talk dirty to her!_ Emma laughed out loud at this, her roommate was something else.

 ** _Thanks Lace, I'll do just that. ;p_ ** Emma replied as she continued to looked down at her phone and thought about when Henry was a year old and Emma noticed that sometimes he wouldn't respond to sounds for various amounts of time and that his balance was off.

After some testing at the local hospital she'd found out he had a hereditary condition that would cause him to lose his hearing. It had been Dr. Whale that told her about the hearing clinic he volunteered at the university.

After finding out that the condition would only worsen over time, Emma had made the decision to pick up a sign language class to teach the both of them. Of course Dr. Whale had told her about the possibility of cochlear implants, but she'd not feel comfortable with that, especially with Henry only being a year old. If he wanted them when he was older, then sure, they'd look at the possibility, but  
in her opinion he'd been too young.

Not paying attention to when she was walking Emma found herself bumping into someone nearly causing them to both to fall over. On instinct Emma reached out steadying the other person while profusely apologizing while she bent over to pick up the papers she caused the person to drop.

"I am so—" Emma stopped talking as she held out the papers realizing the person she'd nearly knocked over what the woman she'd been rather obsessed with since seeing her over a month ago. The woman smiled kindly noticing that Emma was apologizing.

"I'm deaf," she spoke her voice slightly accented telling Emma she'd gone through speech therapy at some point in her life.

' _I was saying that I'm so sorry!'_ Emma immediately signed surprising the woman who took the papers. _'My names Emma Swan, what's yours?'_ Emma asked as the brunette still just stared at her as Emma laughed out over the woman's shock.

 _'Sorry, I'm just not used to people outside of my department knowing how to sign. And well my students.'_ She clarified as Emma nodded. _'My name is Regina Mills, it's a pleasure to meet you Emma.'_ Emma watched as the woman fingerspelled her name and then included her name sign. Emma herself hadn't acquired a name sign yet because she hadn't had many interactions with Deaf people to acquire one. Sure she went to Deaf events to introduce Henry to a world he would more than likely be a part of, she didn't have friends who were Deaf, they were still more of acquaintances.

 _'The pleasure is all mine, Regina, and again, I'm sorry about running into you. I wasn't paying attention, clearly.'_ Emma chuckled as Regina smiled nodding.

 _'Your sign is very fluid, if you don't mind me asking, why do you know how to sign? Are you a CODA?'_ Emma shook her head only to think a moment, she very well could be, she'd been orphaned soon after being born, her parents could have been deaf, and it would explain why Henry had the hearing loss thing.

 _'My son, he's on his way to becoming Deaf.'_ Emma signed as Regina's brow raised in question at the statement. _'He has a hereditary thing that could result in total hearing loss, so we picked up sign language.'_ Emma clarified as Regina nodded.

 _'Pendred Syndrome?'_ Regina asked as Emma nodded.

 _'Yes! We actually come to the clinic here to test his hearing and see how his balance and such is being affected.'_ Emma explained as Regina watched slightly impressed by the blonde's openness and comfort with signing.

 _'Does he have cochlear implants?'_ Emma shook her head.

 _'No, he knows about them, slightly, he's five and well, if he wants them later in life we'll look at the options and such and decide then.'_ Emma looked down at her wrist to see the time. _'I hate to run,_ ' Emma signed as she reached into her pocket and handed Regina a card. _'Maybe we can get together sometime and have coffee? An apology for so abrasively running into you?'_ Emma smirked as Regina looked down at the card before pocketing.

 _'I would like that, it sounds wonderful, I will text you sometime.'_ Regina smiled as Emma nodded before she continued on her way. Not only had she'd gotten to introduce herself, but she had given the woman her number. Lacey would flip when she told her later.


End file.
